that He lived a good life here upon the earth; that He was cruci fied and died as a wonderful example o f what every man should do, if necessary, for the sake o f his ideals and beliefs. In other words, He died merely as a noble example; He was buried and His body remains dead even to this day; and it is the spirit o f Jesus or His influence that lingers on in the world. This is used in the same way in which we speak o f "the spirit o f ’76” — no more and no less. That is the liberal’s doctrine concerning the person and work o f Jesus Christ. The conservative, or Bible-believing Christian, on the other hand, also has his doctrine concerning the person and work o f Jesus Christ. Briefly it is this: that Christ was born o f the virgin Mary; He lived a sinless life; He went about declaring wonderful truths and performing mighty deeds which we call miracles. Finally, He was put to death on Calvary’s Cross as an atonement for sin; He died as our substitute so that we through faith in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life; He was buried; the third day He rose again from the dead, and He lives forevermore. That is the Bible-believing Christian’s doctrine concerning the person and work o f Jesus Christ. The modernist’s doctrine is not based upon the Word o f God at all, but upon the reasoning o f mere human beings. The liberal believes what is reasonable to him. What is not acceptable, or what he does not understand, he rejects, but he has his doctrine. We believe all the Bible teaches concerning the great truths that it contains . . . "the whole counsel o f God,” the full revela tion o f Himself. We have our doctrine o f God the Trinity (Fa ther, Son and Holy Spirit); the doctrine o f man, his origin, his fall and his future destiny through faith in Jesus Christ and the future destiny o f unregenerate man; the doctrine o f the inspira tion o f scripture; the doctrine o f Satan, angelology, and demon ology; the doctrine o f the church; the doctrine o f eschatology, or last things. When one puts all o f these doctrines together in an orderly arrangement, his system o f belief becomes what is known as a creed. To say that one is not interested in doctrine is simply to admit either that he refuses to think or that he is mentally in capable o f thinking logically on any subject. Someone has well said that doctrine is the root, the Christian life is the fruit. A person cannot live a life that is acceptable to God, unless he has the foundation in his thinking, for out o f these roots come the very issues o f life itself. Sometimes doctrinal teaching and doctrinal preaching can be rather dull and uninteresting, but it is up to the preacher or teacher to take these great truths and make them live in the minds o f their hearers, helping them to understand the extremely vital part that the doctrines play in one’s Christian life; in help ing them to understand that these truths which are found in the Word o f God are God-inspired, God-breathed, God-given; that they are eternally true and that men’s lives should be guided and governed by them to the glory o f God. (continued on page 15)
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